Putting the Mega in MegaCon
by C-kun
Summary: In a most frightening occurance, members of the Megatokyo forums attend a con at which the characters are also in attendance. Hijinks ensue.


Pre-fic notes:  This is _not part of MT:tC.  The situation is if Megatokyo forum goers actually met the characters of MT.  The forum goers mentioned are meant to be the actual people as represented online (with liberties taken on my part), not any role-playing personas.  Though AH is still a hamster._

Putting the Mega in MegaCon

-or-

A Tribute to the Ph34rs0me F4nz

By Caduceus-kun

For the "C-kun's Foot in C-kun's Mouth" Creative Writing Versus Storyboard challenge

"Half a league, half a league,  
     Half a league onward,  
All in the valley of Death  
     Rode the six hundred.  
"Forward, the Light Brigade!  
"Charge for the guns!" he said:  
Into the valley of Death  
     Rode the six hundred."

-Alfred, Lord Tennyson, "The Charge of the Light Brigade"

The sign said "MegaCon."  There wasn't really anything else they could have called the largest anime and gaming convention in Megatokyo.  The building was massive, a recently built convention center out of the regular path of scheduled rampages and Rent-a-zilla routes.  It was early morning, with   only the faintest traces of light creeping over the eastern horizon, and the building was nearly silent.  Most everything was setup, and the staff was catching a few hours rest before things started rolling.

From the shadows of the alleys on either side of the convention center, two figures emerged.  They were dressed similarly; long black trench coats and indistinct dark outfits underneath.  Each carried a large, heavy duty duffle bag, and despite the dimness of the hour, each wore stylish dark sunglasses.  They looked around, spotted each and started pacing toward each other, meeting in front of the main doors below the "MegaCon" sign.  They inspected each other, evaluating, then, almost in tandem, reached out with their free hands and shook.  Then they spoke.

"BG."

"Nightwalker."

"Nice to finally meet to face to face."

"Same here.  You have your equipment, I see."

"Of course.  _He's _going to be here."

BGMaster  simply nodded.  He looked up at the MegaCon sign, and a smile played across his lips.  "But _He's_ not the important one.  _She_ is."

"Well, of course."  

Nightwalker too looked at the sign.  With a smirk, he said, "I wouldn't miss either one, though."

~*~  
  


My bank account was still screaming in pain when I arrived at the con doors shortly before the opening.  This trip to MegaTokyo was probably going to result in my living in the streets for the rest of my life, but I didn't particularly care; it was an opportunity that I'd probably never have again.  After seeing (maybe even speaking to!) Our Lady of Sorrows and Strength, the Heavenly Erika Hayasaka, I could die a happy fanboy.  And if Draegos or Nightwalker had decided to bring weapons, the chance of that was fairly good. 

Not to _mention the rumors that Dom and ed might be on duty at the Sega and Sony booths.  _

The crowds waiting to get in were already expansive, but that was to be expected.  It luckily wouldn't be hard to find my group; Psieye, I knew, was unlikely to actually look like Pai-Kimiko, though that was how I pictured him, as he never changes his avatar.  He would probably be a fairly normal looking college student, like me. Only Korean.  On the other hand, we would be the only Korean college student from the U.K. walking around with a talking Hamster and a guy in a kilt.  The AncestralHamster and McFinnigan would make finding them pretty easy.  The rest of the Senior Forum Bards wouldn't be too hard to find, either.  They would be the only other guys besides me wandering around with notebooks full of filks.

I wondered how Hayasaka-sama would react to "Lost Wings" and "Following an Angel."

Keeping a watch on the crowd as it continued to grow was starting to frighten me, and since I didn't see anyone who might have been a fellow forum member, I gave up shortly before the doors opened.  Pulling my registration info out of my satchel and checking it over for the [375]th time, I nervously made my way toward the door, in terrible fear that something might have gone wrong and not being let in.  Thankfully, everything went smoothly, and a smiling Maya Ibuki cos-player handed me my badge.  Blushing, I smiled back and looked at it.

"Caduceus-kun."  Wai!  They spelled it right!

~*~

"Where have you been?" Erika asked crossly as Piro slipped into his chair next to her at the MegaGamers booth in the Dealer's Room.

"Sorry, I, er, wanted to make sure Kimiko-chan was alright..."

Erika resisted the urge to groan.  This was going to the worst con ever.  Those two were going to driver her crazy the whole time with their constant worrying and checking on each other, Piro's weapon laden  friends from the game companies were working at their respective company's booths, and that Cataclysm Department Inspector had, unfathomably, gotten Largo a job in the LAN Gaming room.  She was expecting explosions within an hour.

And worst of all, making her cosplay as Misato Katsuragi while Piro cosplayed as Kaji had to be the boss's worst idea ever.  And she was pretty sure that Kimiko had made the skirt too tight on purpose, just to pay her back for the meddling.  The girl sure could be ungrateful sometimes.

"I don't know why you're so worried.  Less planning went into this con than the work you two did on that Kotone costume.  She looks fine."

Piro, red, coughed and muttered something.  

"What," Erika said with a raised eyebrow.  

"I said, 'That's what I'm worried about.'"

Amused, Erika made no reply.

~*~

I looked around, still smiling about my correctly spelled badge.  The place was massive; there were cosplayers and aisles of booths as far as the eye could see.  Distantly, I could see the glowing logos of the big game companies; Sega and Sony seemed to be as far away as possible from each other (no doubt to postpone the impending massacre), but the Microsoft and Nintendo booths seemed surprisingly close together.  On a hunch, I headed that way.

Upon arrival, I was somehow not surprised by the extension of the booths in to the aisle.  The setup in the expansion was not terribly surprising; a silver GameCube rested upon a standard black X-box, connect to a A/V switchbox and a big screen television, and both were running.  Even as I approached, the game of Halo ended and the first of the three players, a man in a skull and crossbones on his t-shirt switched the TV to the GameCube, revealing the Smash Bros. Melee character select screen all ready to go.  I approached and the second player, wearing a red baseball cap, glanced at my me and my badge, and said, "Hey, Cad.  We couldn't agree, so we're playing both. 

I grinned.  "No problem, Jaymark.  No problem at all."

"Grab a controller," the remaining player, who, with the sketchpad between his knees, had to be GrimRupert.  "Dillinger is off arguing with Crack, so we have room for you."

I nodded, and took up the Wavebird, responding with another nod to Slayn's silent acknowledgment.  I may be a little rusty, and I may be more of a Story forum bard than anything else, but I _have been a Gamer far longer than I've possessed any other label (that I'll agree with), and a chance to game with the most prominent members of Gamer's Central was not something to be passed up.  Readying my controller, I promptly proved that Jaymark was the superior Nintendo fan.  I did okay when we switched back to Halo..._

~*~  
  


"Miho-san, are you sure about this?  Will you be okay?"  Ping-chan was cute even when worried, and Miho couldn't suppress a smile even as she sighed. 

"Ping-chan, I'm feeling fine. Besides, we need the extra-credit in 'Largo-sensei's' class."  There was a hint of bitterness in Miho's voice.  She was not looking forward to Largo's anger after she beat him again.

"Okay, Miho-san.  But if you start feeling bad..."

Again, Miho couldn't help but smiling.  "Don't worry, Ping-chan.  I'll tell you right away."

Ping's customary _genki smile reappeared, and she started to skip ahead.  She turned a corner, and suddenly froze.  Miho stopped next to her, and her face returned to it's normal emotionless mask, for their path was blocked.  _

Six people stood across the aisle.  Foremost were dual trench coated figures.  Two other men were there as well, both in the latest goth-raver fashions.  There were two women as well, one in what would have been the traditional robes of a Shinto priestess, except for the fact that they were as black as night.  The other was dressed eerily similar to Miho.  All in all, it was an intimidating group.  And they were all looking a Miho.

After several moments of expressionless silence, Miho spoke, her voice cold and powerful.  "Who are you, and what do you want.  I have things to be doing, and you're blocking my path."  
  


Slowly, the two lead figures removed their sunglasses, revealing not the cold hostility Miho was expecting, but expression of awe and joy.  The two girls suddenly seemed to snap, hugging each other and jumping up and down in excitement.  The raver boys exchanged grins.  One of the lead figures stepped foreword, and bowed to Miho.  "M'lady Miho, as the leader of the Church of the Darkly Cute One, I, NightwalkerAK, humbly inform you that we are eternally at your service.  I present to you DemonMiko, Vespira, Manta X, the False Hoturi, and BGMaster."

In response, the members of the Church of Miho were, rather appropriately, the first members of the MegaTokyo forums to ever witness Miho Tohya being completely, utterly confused.  With a very un-mysterious look of bewilderment on her face, she replied, "Eh?"

~*~

After SquareSoft security chased Dillinger and CrackPr0n away from the Final Fantasy booth, Dill returned and claimed his controller back from me.  As I'd been losing consistently anyway and I still had many people to meet, I wasn't terribly concerned.  Besides, it was a long con; I had plenty of time to get my ass kicked.  I promised them an entirely different experience playing Unreal Tournament 2003 the next day, I left to the accompaniment of friendly jeers.  

Turning the corner into a new aisle, I saw someone looking right at me.  The figure appeared to panic, and disappeared down another aisle.  Frowning, I followed; it had looked like a Lain cosplayer, and I was somewhat frightened by what my intuition was telling me this time.   

I wasn't surprised when I found the figure, who was indeed cosplaying as Lain, staring at some Invader Zim merchandise at a booth only two down from the entrance to the aisle.  I put a hand on the "girl's" shoulder and "she" jumped and turned toward me.  A sheepish expression fit well on this particular Lain.  

"Hello," I said.  "BoD-'chan.'" 

"Erm, hi C-kun."

"You're crossplaying as Lain."  
  
"Uh, yeah."

I sighed.  "Alright.  Who am I to argue?  Just be careful, would you?"

Still looking sheepish, BringerofDoom nodded again.  With another sigh, I made my way onward.  Into the Valley of F4nz.

~*~  
  


"Oh, kami-sama, not more teddy bears," Yuki muttered.  They hadn't even been at Mega-Con for an hour yet, and Yuki was quite sure that Asako had managed to find _every booth with teddy bears in the convention center.  Yuki liked cute plush animals as much as the next junior high school girl, but this was ridiculous.  _

Mami snickered.  "What's wrong, Yuki-chan?  You're the one who wanted to come, to see you're 'Piro-sensei.'"  

Yuki's cheek twitched.  "Thank you, Mami.  I don't know how I would ever remember anything without you."

"I do my best, Yuki-chan."  

Yuki sighed.  Glancing around, she looked around to see if there was anything else interesting.  Seiyuus, game designers, artists (nothing compared to Piro-sensei), cutest guy she'd ever seen... Wait.

Her eyes flashed back to the boy~ the man, really.  Probably about twenty four.  He was looking around disinterestedly, holding a large, heavy duty duffle bag and wearing a trench coat.  Strangely, he was holding a teddy bear, rather possessively...  

But oh, what a man!  Large, expressive light blue eyes, a sweep of thick, shining brown hair, a muscular body that she could see underneath the trench coat from his tight blue t-shirt...  She'd never seen _anyone_ like this before!

Hardly knowing what she was doing, not even hearing Mami ask, "Yuki? You okay?  Hellooo?" Yuki walked straight toward the man.  He ran a hand through his hair with a sigh, rolling his eyes towards the ceiling, and when they had dropped again, she was before him.  His eyes widened at the sight of her, and widened even more at the look on her face.  His jaw worked for a moment silently in shock, then he whispered, "Yuki-chan?"

Hearing her name come from the total (and totally gorgeous) stranger shocked Yuki out of her dazed state, somewhat.  "Um, yes?" she said in a small voice.  "Do I know you?" _Please?_

A panicked look swept across his face, and was replaced by a friendly, though still somewhat nervous, smile.  "Um, no, I wouldn't expect so.  I, er, I'm a family friend, actually!  My parents knew yours, and they've kept in touch over the years, even though we lived in America.  Yeah.  They've sent pictures."  He paused, then said, "I'm Draegos.  Wasn't expecting to meet you here, though.  Heheh."

_Sweet!  Yuki didn't even think about how strange the coincidence was.  She just latched on to his arm, and started dragging him back towards a shocked Mami and a drooling Asako.  "Cool!  You can hang out with us!  These are my friends, Mami and..."_

Poor Draegos never quite knew what happened.  

~*~  
  


"The snack bars are full.

After we raid the manga

We'll have a light lunch."

I froze, instantly recognizing the sound of _haiku_.  It could only mean one thing.  

And sure enough, when I turned the corner and saw the snack bar, there they were.  six, there were.  And through the power of verse (and since most of them have no avatars), I instantly knew them for who they were.  The Bards of the Story forums.

I approached reverently, and, with a growing feeling of peace, I spoke.  "At the greatest con/I finally discover/Others versed in verse."

Smurd (for who else could it be?) turned and with a grin, welcomed me.  "And C-kun appears!/And we now have found seven/Poets with free time!"

I laughed, and reply, "It is a great joy/to be meeting all of you;/an honor as well."

And it was.  Shoka, _Quinn, Garren, E-monk, JRandom... I had hoped for others, too, like Phaedrus, Raykramer, Telliamed, and maybe even Rowan Bristol.  But perhaps they would come later.  

JRandom pointed.  "And as a friend appeared from thin air/At concession booths over there/When before lines were long/They are now all gone/Quick, let us snatch food and chair!"

So we did, and proceeded to eat, filk, and be merry.

~*~  
  


"How you hold your mouse is of vital importance!  Your mouse is both your weapon and your means of looking around you, and to survive, you must be one with your weapon!  Your very soul must infuse it, must extend into it, or you will not have this skillz to win.  Now, follow my example."  As he spoke, Great Teacher Largo's grim eyes met those of each and every person who had signed up for this special class in First Person Shooters, impressing upon them the import of his words.  Many of the geeks were having second thoughts about this, but those who had heard of Great Teacher Largo~ and there were a number~ felt thrilled shivers run down there spines.  Here was one who was truly Hardcore; the L33t of the l33t.  

Largo began his demonstration, but at the entrance to the dimly lit stood another figure, one who had not been there a moment before.  She had a curious smile on her face, almost of adoration, and almost anyone who was anyone on the forums would have recognized her; after all, who else would cosplay as a nurse, with a small, rough sketch of Largo on her hat?  And who else would suddenly be throwing herself forward, uttering the cry, "LARGO-SAMAAAAA!"

None other than Meagan.

~*~  
  


I eventually had to leave the forum bards, as I still had not found Psieye, McF, and the Hamster.  I promised to return, though, with the three in tow, for they too knew the power of words, and deserved the title of Bard.  The karaoke bar that night would see a show as it had never seen one before.  For we brought our own words... 

I turned into yet another aisle, and was met with a sight even stranger than BoD crossplaying as Lain.  Before me was a figure with his foot on the back of another person's head.  The figure seemed to be cosplaying as Piro, but with one significant difference; his skin and hair were dyed black, and contacts made his eyes an eerie red.  I knew it could only be one person, and I strongly suspected who the unfortunate under his feet was as well.  Though if it was who I thought it was, I felt no pity for him.  

I approached and said, "AP.  Nice to see you.  Or are you going by Aenan today?"

His eyes turned to me, the smirk falling off his face.  He studied me for a moment.  "Nice to see me, huh?  I wouldn't have expected to here that from you."

I shrug.  "I've told you, I don't hold grudges.  I'm impressed you put that much effort into a cosplay costume."

His smirk returned.  "Well, you know.  Needed people to recognize me; that way they'll leave me alone."  The guy under his feet twitched feebly.  "Except this pathetic excuse for a troll."

"NooDLe?"  
  
Aenan raised an eyebrow.  "How'd you guess?"  
  


"Oh, more of a hope than a guess.  Well then, carry on.  Maybe you can kick me ass at Mechwarrior later."

"I'll look forward to it."

Forward the fan brigade.

~*~  
  


A girl and a young man stood together, watching.  

Smiling, Piro sat down at Kimiko's table, surprising her.  "Oh!  How'd you...?"

"Erika told me to go get something to eat.  I wasn't going to argue with her, so I went."

Kimiko laughed; prettiest sound the man watching a dozen yards away had ever heard.  "I don't blame you!  I don't usually argue with her either."  She smiled shyly at Piro, and said, "She is sweet though.  I told her when my break was, but I was expecting her to come.  Has she taken any breaks at all?"

"She said she would eat when I got back."  Piro, as usually in these situations, was trying to keep his heart rate from going through the roof.  He still couldn't quite believe it was all real.  And she was so _cute_ in the Kotone costume!  He felt stupid dressed as Kaji.

The man motioned the girl forward.  She looked at him questioningly, and he just shook his head, smiling wistfully.  Shrugging, the girl wandered forward happily.  

After a standard moment of uncomfortable silence, Piro said, "The costume looks good.  I'm sure your boss is happy."

Kimiko blushed and smiled.  "Yeah.  It's really drawn a lot of attention."

"Not too much, I hope!  Heheheh... heh..." Piro put his hand behind his head nervously, feeling like a dork.  So he totally missed Kimiko's smile grow even more tender.  

"Well, I don't~"

"Wai!  Piro-sama!"  

Both otaku jumped and turned, surprised.  There was a pre-teen girl there, in a strange cosplay costume that seemed to combine features of a _neko-shoujo_ and a Merlin style traditional wizard.  "Ohayo, Piro-sama!  Just wanted to say hi!  And give you these."  She produced a massive bag of skittles from somewhere in her robes.  With a wink, she handed them to a bewildered Piro, and said, "For luck, you know."  Then, she handed a cookie to Kimiko.  

"A cookie...?" Kimiko asked, bemused.

"Ah ah, don't mock the cookie, Kimiko-chan!"  The girl waved her finger at the seiyuu, and then turned and skipped away.  They watched he go up to a man wearing, of all things, hockey gear.  The man saw them looking and raised a hand, smiling.  Then he turned and they disappeared into the crowd.  

Piro looked down at the bag of Skittles, and said, "What on Earth...?"  He opened it, and even stranger, found a piece of paper.  He unfolded it curiously, and found that it was a note.

_Piro-sama__, I wish you luck and happiness.  Please make sure to take good care of Kimiko.  She deserves the best._

_-Hatch_

~*~

Erika sat, bored and hungry.  There were a lot of fanboys around, but no one seemed to be buying anything.  Piro was taking a long time; she'd expected and hoped he would, of course, which was why she'd sent him off about five minutes after Kimiko's break started.  Still, doing nothing but being gawked at by fanboys was getting old.  She was almost wishing Largo would show up or something.  He was always amusing, even if he needed an occasional reminder about where the line was drawn.  

She got movement out of a corner of her eye, and she turned and looked.  There was a boy approaching, Caucasian, about college age.  There was a satchel of some sort slung over his shoulder, and he had one hand in a death grip around the strap.  His other hand pressed a notebook against his chest.  Strangely, there appeared to be a live hamster on his shoulder, which wasn't taking his eyes off her.  Neither was the boy, for that matter; he looked on the verge of hyperventilating, but he kept his eyes on her and kept moving forward.

She heard some sort of indistinct shouted encouragement from the end of the aisle, and she glanced in its direction.  She saw another college age boy and a slightly older man wearing a kilt.  They noticed her looking at them, and panicked, running off in opposite directions.  She returned her attention to the boy, and found that he'd used her glance away to cover the rest of the distance.  

He was keeping his eyes steadily on her face, which was interesting.  He sketched a bow, looking half panicked himself.  "K-konichiwa, H-hayasaka-s-sama..." was what he managed to squeak out.

Trying to think of how this kid could possibly know her name, she replied.  "Konichiwa.  Can I help you with something?"

He swallowed hard.  "I... I was hoping you'd accept this..."  He carefully, with a shaking hand, pulled a piece of paper from in between the notebook and his chest, and slid it across the pile of CDs to her.  

She blinked at it.  Poetry?  Haiku, in English, no less.  

_Angel-winged woman   
dressed in rags and sound asleep.   
Of what do you dream?   
  
Dreams of those you aid?   
Dreams of those you could not save?   
Does the past haunt you?   
  
Angel of Mercy,   
When your burdens are too great,   
to whom do you turn?   
  
The burdens are yours,   
for no one else has the strength.   
Dream now of release._

_-AH_

_Beneath trailing hair  
A patchwork sweater; feathers  
Lay upon the floor.  
  
What does she read, there?  
Why is her bookmark fallen  
Upon the cold floor?  
  
Ornate flowered shawl  
Compliments the ruffled skirt  
Draped across the floor.   
  
What thoughts lay behind  
Narrowed, tired, gorgeous eyes?  
Hair trails towards the floor.  
  
[irish haiku]  
A languishing angel rests her head  
Rememberances for tears once shed  
But have no fear  
She shall be near  
To spread her wings and ease your dread.  
  
A patchwork sweater keeps her warm  
Her piercing eyes transfix my form  
Her ruffled wings  
Can humble kings  
Heavenliness beyond the norm  
[/irish haiku]_

_-C-kun_

She blinked again.  "Irish haiku?"

"Um, it's what we call a limerick... people started adding them to the haiku threads, but they weren't haiku, so they shouldn't have been there, and that's how we got around the technicality that only haiku could be in the haiku thread, and, er... boy, that sounds stupid..."

Erika resisted the urge to laugh; it wasn't an urge she got often.  There was a paperclip, and turning the page over, and saw that it held a picture* to the back.  It was her sitting at the table of a small cafe, dressed in a patched sweater and ornate skirt, with ashen wings just visible over her shoulder.  She recalled the modeling job when she'd done that one.  It had been one of her favorites; hadn't been any challenge at all.  

She read the poems again, and felt the corner of her mouth start to twitch upward.  "I'm not really a poetry person."

"Erm..."  The boy clearly didn't know how to respond.

"Which one are you?"  
  


"Eh?  C-kun."

"So who's AH?"

"Erm... the AncestralHamster."  He motioned his head toward his shoulder, where the hamster no longer was.  He looked around, clearly wondering where it had gone.  Erika could see it peaking at her from the top of his head.  

"Really."

"Er, yes?"

She looked the paper over once more, then slipped it into her magazine.  Glancing up at him, she said, "Are you going to buy anything?"

He blinked, surprised.  "Nani?  Buy?  Um, I guess... Let me look around...?"

He continued glancing at her nervously as he looked around, and the hamster never took its eyes off her.   She refused to let herself smirk while it watched.  After a moment, she had a thought, and started rooting around in the small duffle she'd brought extra reading material and her change of clothes in.  

She wasn't a purse person.

The boy came back with two soundtracks; one for Furi Kuri, and one for Hellsing.  He held them out to her along with a credit card.  She noted that it was a Visa card from a student credit union.  She quickly rang up his purchases, putting them and the receipt in the bag.  She also slipped a couple of other pieces of paper in, though she made sure he didn't see.  Her training still came in useful, occasionally.  

"Domo arigato.  Have a nice day.  Enjoy the con, and tell your shy friends to come buy something too," she said.  

"Wha-? Oh, them.  Yeah."  His friends ducked back behind a booth when he glanced their way.  She'd been keeping an eye on them, though they hadn't realized, of course.  

He stood awkwardly for a moment, then, with another sketch of a bow, he walked away.  

Only when she was sure he was gone did she allow herself a smile.  

~*~

"The 3vil 0ne is late." 

Largo was pacing the floor impatiently.  Meagan sat watching him, a smile upon her face.  The rest of the LAN gaming room was nearly empty; there weren't any lessons for another two hours, and only a couple of people were using the computers.

"I'm sure she'll be here, Largo-samaaaa..." Like every time she his title, it came out as a sigh of pleasure.    
  


"Perhaps.  Perhaps she has fallen again.  That is not acceptable; she needs to be here, so that I can defeat her!" He stopped, and smacked his fist into his palm.  "Yes, that must be it!  She has fallen.  I must go find her!"

He started towards the door, when suddenly two large, trench coated figures entered.  And in between them was Miho, in the middle of a laugh.  Largo stopped, bemused.  It hadn't been an evil chuckle, or a wicked snicker, or a mocking chortle.  It had been a sweet sounding, innocent laugh of happiness.  

Ping entered right behind them, smiling happily, carrying darkly dressed yet happy looking girls on her shoulders.  Behind her can two men dressed like zombies, though they were both grinning unusually normal seeming grins for the undead.

Miho stopped when she saw him.  Smiling what seemed to almost be her normal smile, yet was strangely missing the usual hint of mocking amusement, she said, "Ah, Largo-sensei!  You're still here.  I'm glad, I was kind of delayed, but I really need the extra credit.  Are you ready?"

He frowned, trying to deal with these new developments.  They must be her minions, like the creation of the evil empire, but... something was wrong.  "Who are these people?"

Still smiling, she said, "They're my friends, Largo-sensei.  Surely you know what friends are."

Largo blinked.  "Of course I know what friends are."  His thoughts skimmed briefly over Piro and his strange spaghetti chixor, Dom and Ed, the l33t d00d, Boo, the Inspector Sonada d00d who'd turned out to be pretty cool, Piro's chixor's r4ck3d roommate...  "I, er..."  He sure hadn't been hanging out with his friends lately.  In fact, he'd also barely done any gaming recently, except when he was teaching.  He'd been too busy preparing for the 3vil 0ne, but she hadn't even shown up at the zombie rampage that Tuesday...

One of the men stepped forward, smiling.  "Well, this is an honor.  A chance to finally meet the famous Largo.  I understand~"

He was interrupted by female voices as a girl rushed in through the room's other entrance, followed by two more girls dragging a panicked looking older guy.  One was in the middle of saying, "Come on, Draegos-kun!  I wanna see you play!"

One of the men in trench coats blinked.  "Draegos?" he said.  

The man, who had been trying to get a word in edgewise on the girl, suddenly froze and looked over.  Their eyes locked.  

Nightwalker smirked and said, "Well, Draegos, I see you found your protectorate.  You look a little worried, though.  Run into any problems?"

Yuki looked up at Draegos and said, "Draegos-kun?  Who's that, and what's he talking about."  
  


"Nightwalker," Draegos said, a smile spreading over his lips.  In response to a tug on his arm, he smiled at Yuki, and said, "Don't worry, Yuki-chan.  I won't let the necrophile hurt you."  
  
Yuki gave him a disturbed look.  "Eh?  Okaaay..."  

She took a step back, and action was instant.  Nightwalker and Draegos both went for their duffle bags, tearing open zippers that had already been partially open.  Night was a hair faster, pulling out a pair of Nerf multi-shot missile launchers, and firing a volley.  Draegos twisted out of the way, revealing a pair of water pistols, which he immediately opened up with, scattering the rest of the Church of Miho.  "Shit!" Nightwalker dodged out of the way just in time.   Luckily, he wasn't in front of any of the computers.  

"Night!"  BG's voice came from the doorway, and he tossed something in.  Night caught it, then grinned to see that it was a paintball gun.  

"Sweet."  

"Crap." Draegos grabbed the three girls and took cover.  

"You!  Your minions attack innocent girls and their gaming friends!  This cannot be forgiven!  I shall defeat you this time, 3vil 0ne!" Largo cried, pointing a Miho, who was peaking into the room from the doorway, with an actual grin on her face.  

She raised an eyebrow at him, and said, "Oh, come now, Largo-sensei!  A couple of paintballs are hardly an attempt to eat brains."  With that, she stuck her tongue out at him and disappeared.  

Largo was still for a moment, trying to bend his mind around _that image, then glanced a Meagan.  She was holding the Cool Thing in one hand, and what appeared to be a home made stake launcher in the other hand; both had been in Largo's bag.  He opened his mouth and started to point at the stake launcher, then hesitated.  Dodging a couple of paintballs without even noticing they were being fired, he pointed instead to the Cool Thing.  "Quickly!  I need a weapon!"_

Meagan tossed it to him, then, with a shrug, put away the launcher.  Largo, in the meantime, quickly and expertly manipulated the Cool Thing, until it looked like a pistol, of sorts.  "Minion of the 3vil 0ne!  Surrender now, or be destroyed!"

Night stopped moving, uncertain; how crazy was Largo?  He opened his mouth to speak, but Largo cut him off with a wicked looking grin of his own.  "Actually, you'll be destroyed anyway!"  He pulled the trigger.

"Ow!"  Night blinked and rubbed his arm.  He looked down at the floor, then bent down and picked up the small rubber pellet that the Cool Pistol had fired.  As he was straightening back up, Draegos sprayed him down with the water pistols.  Sopping wet with narrowed eyes, Nightwalker looked between Largo and Draegos.  "Oh, it's on now!"

I kept my head low, generally avoiding the interchanges of fire as the battle escalated, playing Unreal Tournament, happily glancing at my signed copy of "Grey Erika," and humming "Your Own Worst Enemy," by They Might Be Giants.  The AncestralHamster seemed quite thrilled with his copy, as well. I wondered if McF had found Kimiko to give her his drawing yet, but was content to wait until he came and found me.  I also wished that I had a little money to go get a rubber band gun, or something, to join in the weird projectile war, but heck, even broke, it was going to be a damn fine con.  

Fin

Author's Apologies:  Don't have time for much.  I apologize to everyone who I didn't manage to get into this fic, most notably Craft of Mystery, since he(?) asked, ph00tbag, and the members of ORAZ.  I apologize to everyone who I _did manage to get into this fic, as I'm sure I've made a mockery of your personalities; especially the Church of Miho members.  I apologize to thread for doing such things to his characters, and I apologize to the fans, both the ones whose favorite characters I did put in, and the ones whose favorite characters I didn't put it.  I apologize, again, to the Creative Writing board, as at this point I think you could all write better than me even if you were three year olds.  And I apologize to myself for staying up this late and for making an ass of myself.  No apologies to NooDLe._

*- 

Khattam-Shud, eof (thank you, Strike Fiss)


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